Franssen Named to Team Europe for Arnold Palmer Cup
3/16/2017 12:29:00 PM | Men's Golf
Tiger freshman selected to prestigious amateur team for a Ryder Cup-style competition
ORLANDO, Fla. - Mizzou Men's Golf will have representation in the prestigious Arnold Palmer Cup from freshman Rory Franssen (Inverness, Scotland), as both the European and United States squads were announced Thursday, March 16, during the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. The annual Ryder Cup-style competition will be played June 9-11 at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
Franssen, the first Arnold Palmer Cup selection to come out of the University of Missouri, has been lights out in his first season wearing the Black & Gold. He currently leads the Tigers with his 71.1 stroke average and has paced Mizzou in back-to-back events, including an individual runner-up finish at the SunTrust Gator Invitational (Feb. 18-19).
Mizzou head coach Mark Leroux sees Franssen's selection as an outstanding individual honor and a statement for the program.
"It certainly means a lot for Rory to receive this honor, as he is someone who really works at his game and deserves the recognition," Leroux said. "From a team perspective, it's always been our goal to have the best homegrown talent on our roster, and then rely on a strong international pipeline. Rory is an outstanding example of that."
Franssen, representing Mizzou and Scotland, qualified along with Texas Tech and Sweden's Hannes Ronneblad and Fredrik Nilehn, Kristoffer Ventura of Oklahoma State (Norway), Jacksonville's David Wicks (England) Harry Ellis of Florida State (England), for Team Europe by finishing in the top six of the Arnold Palmer Cup Player Ranking. Committee selections were Maynooth's Stuart Grehan (Ireland) and Viktor Hovland of Oklahoma State (Norway). Richard Mansell of Nova Southeastern (England) was David Inglis' coach's pick. The final member of the team will be the winner of The R&A Foundation Scholars Tournament, which will be contested April 3-4.
The six United States players determined by the ranking included Sam Burns of LSU, Texas A&M's Chandler Phillips, Collin Morikawa of California, Virginia's Jimmy Stanger, Stanford's Maverick McNealy and Oregon's Norman Xiong. John Coultas of Florida Southern, Southern California's Sean Crocker and Illinois' Nick Hardy were committee selections. Coultas was the designated non-Division I player. Doug Ghim of Texas was John Fields' coach's pick.
For more information visit arnoldpalmercup.com.
Europe
Arnold Palmer Cup Ranking Selections
Hannes Ronneblad, Texas Tech - Sweden
Fredrik Nilehn, Texas Tech - Sweden
???????Kristoffer Ventura, Oklahoma State - Norway
David Wicks, Jacksonville - England
Harry Elllis, Florida State - England
Rory Franssen, Missouri - Scotland
Commitee Selections
Stuart Grehan, Maynooth - Ireland
Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State - Norway
Coach's Pick
Richard Mansell, Nova Southeastern - England
The R&A Foundation Scholars Tournament Champion
Contested April 3-4 at St. Andrews
Coaches
Head Coach - David Inglis, Northwestern - Scotland
Assistant Coach - Alan Murray, Washington - Ireland
United States
Arnold Palmer Cup Ranking Selections
Sam Burns, LSU
Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M
Collin Morikawa, California
Jimmy Stanger, Virginia
Maverick McNealy Stanford
Norman Xiong, Oregon
Commitee Selections
John Coultas, Florida Southern
Sean Crocker, Southern California
Nick Hardy, Illinois
Coach's Pick
Doug Ghim, Texas
Coaches
Head Coach - John Fields, Texas
Assistant Coach - Andrew DiBitetto, North Carolina
